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The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Tier 3 sulfur-reduction rules for cars and gasoline would adopt E15 as an emissions test fuel. The proposed shift to E15, from indolene, is meant to "better match today's in-use gasoline and also to be forward-looking with respect to future ethanol and sulfur content," the agency said. Moreover, the EPA is proposing the use of E85 as an emissions test fuel to certify flex-fuel vehicles and may allow automakers to use alternative test fuels such as E30.

The Environmental Protection Agency will publish a draft rule that would mandate refiners to reduce the sulfur content of gasoline by more than 60% by 2017. "Few other national strategies exist that would deliver the same magnitude of multi-pollutant reductions projected to result from the proposed Tier 3 standards," the agency said. The American Petroleum Institute is against the rule, saying it would boost fuel prices.

Manufacturing costs for refiners would increase significantly under the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Tier 3 sulfur-reduction rules, according to an American Petroleum Institute-commissioned study. "More importantly, EPA has yet to demonstrate any air-quality benefits from reducing sulfur in the amount proposed," said Bob Greco, group director of downstream and industry operations at API. Such standards would also raise greenhouse-gas emissions "because of the use of energy-intensive hydrotreating equipment to remove sulfur from the gasoline," he added.

The Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the Renewable Fuels Association and other groups to clarify some issues about the conditional waiver on E15, writes Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the RFA. Until the conditions for the waiver are met, it is still illegal to sell ethanol blends higher than E10 for vehicles and engines that are designed to use only gasoline, the agency said. However, it is legal to sell ethanol blends up to E85 through dispensers that are labeled for flex-fuel vehicles, the EPA added.

The Environmental Protection Agency should permit 11% or 12% ethanol in gasoline if it cannot rule on an industry proposal to increase the blend wall to 15% by Dec. 1, said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. His comments come amid reports that the EPA will extend the review period for E15 to conduct more tests, he added. Iowa accounts for roughly 26% of U.S. ethanol production, making it the country's biggest manufacturer of the fuel, the state's Renewable Fuels Association said.